Sikeston offense goes stale in 17-13 loss to Farmington

FARMINGTON -- Sikeston has managed to avoid the turnover bug for most of this season, but Friday night that all changed.

With just two turnovers through the first five weeks this season, the Bulldogs eclipsed that total in the first 14 minutes at Farmington on Friday night.

The Bulldogs lost three fumbles, tossed an interception and had a punt blocked in a mistake-filled game that led to a 17-12 loss to the Knights.

The miscues combined with Sikeston's inability to generate any semblance of offense made for a frustrating night for head coach Kent Gibbs and his team.

"Some of the things that we haven't been doing wrong, we were doing wrong tonight," Gibbs said. "If you do that against somebody that basically has the same kind of talent you got then you're going to get beat. It just seemed like we had a little bit of something missing. We just never had a giddy-up in our step. We did nothing offensively and defensively we played well enough to win."

Sikeston's defense was able to slow down Farmington's triple-option offense for most of the night, but was put in difficult positions after a fumble on the opening kickoff and the blocked punt set the Knights up with excellent field position.

Farmington (3-3) recovered the fumble on the opening kickoff at the Sikeston 27. Three plays later Farmington's Brayden Moon took the option pitch and went wide to score from 14 yards out to lead 7-0.

After Sikeston (4-2) fumbled and punted on its next two possessions, respectively, the Bulldogs got potential momentum-swinging play when Farmington fullback Gavin Duncan was stopped in a pile, but Sikeston defensive lineman Josh Stinnett ripped the ball away and returned the fumble 53 yards for the touchdown with four minutes left in the first quarter.

The extra point snap was botched, leading to a failed two-point conversion run to leave Farmington with a 7-6 lead.

"Josh is all over the field," Gibbs said. "He played well on defense tonight and did some things. That's one of those things that ought to spark you and pick you up and get you moving a little bit. But we just couldn't quite get going."

Both teams' defenses dominated the rest of the half, but Farmington's offense got going with less than two minutes after a 23-yard punt return by Tycen Gray set up the Knights at their own 42.

Farmington went with the hurry-up offense against Sikeston's gassed defense and was able to move the chains into the red zone, including a key diving reception by Cody Wright on fourth down. The Knights settled for a 30-yard field goal by Parker Hastings as the first half clock expired to lead 10-6.

On Sikeston's first possession of the third quarter, a high snap led to a blocked punt by Moon. The ball was scooped up by Alex Greco before being tackled by Bryce Bays at the 2-yard line.

Duncan scored on the next play to lead 17-6.

It was the only offense Farmington could muster the entire second half as Sikeston's defense limited the Knights to 38 yards of offense and only one first down. The lone first down came on a fluke play when Farmington's punter botched the snap and ran 18 yards for a first down as Sikeston set up for a return instead of bringing pressure.

Subtract that play and Farmington only managed 20 yards of offense in the second half.

"Our defense kept us in it," Gibbs said.

But Sikeston's offense never could find its rhythm.

The Bulldogs' only other touchdown came after Will Leonard recovered a fumble at the 1-yard line after a scramble on an errant pitch from backup quarterback Gray, who was filling in after starting QB Cody Friedmeyer was taken out following a hard hit to the turf.

Quarterback Dre Johnson scored on a sneak on the next play to cut the lead to 17-12 with 1:29 left in the game.

Farmington recovered the onside kick and ran out the remaining time on the clock.

"They were physically tougher than us," Gibbs said. "They played together in all facets of the game a little bit better. Farmington played really well. They were very well prepared. They played very well on defense and did what they needed to do on offense, but they played hard and they played physical."

With leading rusher Justus Faulkner out with mononucleosis, quarterback Nate Self out with an eye injury and receiver Don Larry out with a shoulder injury, the Bulldogs found itself shorthanded could not sustain drives with the three key players out.

Farmington out-gained the Bulldogs 202 to 181 in total yards, but it was Sikeston's four turnovers and blocked punt that proved to be too much to overcome.

Friedmeyer led the Knights with 51 yards rushing on 20 carries before being helped off the field late in the third quarter.

Johnson led the Bulldogs with 38 yards rushing and threw for 89 yards, but he was just 8 of 22 passing with an interception and a fumble and he was under heavy defensive pressure seemingly all night.

He took numerous hard shots from the Farmington defense and was slow to get up off the turf after most of them, including a personal foul hit in the fourth quarter. Johnson still managed to stay in the game, even while playing nearly every snap on defense.

Sikeston's running backs combined for just 54 yards rushing in the game.

After the game Gibbs was still wondering what happened with his team's offense.

"That's a good question. What happened? After we look at the film we'll get a few more answers," he said. "Early on we were doing nothing up front. And it seems like every time we'd get the ball moving a little bit, we'd fumble, get a holding call, a procedure penalty, whatever it was, it seemed like we made every mistake we could make to stop our momentum. We're not going to operate well behind the chains and that's what we got ourselves into. You can't play and do those things and expect to win. Basically our defense got the two touchdowns tonight. We've got to find a way to get a couple more touchdowns on offense."

The win by Farmington snaps a five-game losing streak to Sikeston.

Sikeston will host Poplar Bluff on Friday in a SEMO North Conference game. The contest will mark Sikeston's final regular season home game of the season.

First Quarter

F -- Brayden Moon 14 run (Parker Hastings kick), 10:38

S -- Josh Stinnett 53 fumble return (run failed), 4:22

Second Quarter

F -- Hastings 30 field goal, 0:00

Third Quarter

F -- Gavin Duncan 2 run (Hastings kick), 7:41

Fourth Quarter

S -- Dre Johnson 1 run (pass failed), 1:29

TEAM STATISTICS

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing -- Sikeston, Dre Johnson 12-38, Jason Moore 9-31, Keshawn Ellis 10-18, Elijah Faulkner 3-4, Phayzun Fobbs 4-1. Farmington , Cody Friedmeyer 20-51, Gavin Duncan 14-44, Cody Wright 4-35, Brayden Moon 4-24, Tycen Gray 8-11, Tappan Westbrook 3-0, Team 1-(-2).

Passing -- Sikeston, Dre Johnson 8-22-1 89. Farmington, Cody Friedmeyer 2-4-0 39.

Receiving -- Sikeston, Phayzun Fobbs 6-78, Eiljah Faulkner 1-8, Austin Branch 1-3. Farmington, Cody Wright 2-39.